Quicken Loans interns mix work and play

More than 28,000 people applied for a summer internship at Quicken Loans or an affiliated company. Only 1,300 were selected.

Quicken Loans interns from left, Travon Stearns, 19, a sophomore at the University of Michigan, Hayya Yousafzai, 26, a graduate at the University of Kent in England, and Julian Weinberg, 21, a graduate of the University of Michigan, laugh and talk in the Quicken Loans lobby. They are photographed at the One Campus Martius building in downtown Detroit on July 27, 2017.(Photo: Rodney Coleman-Robinson, Special to the Free Press)

It’s generally not a smart idea for a young intern to stay out to 3 a.m. on a work night.

But when you’re out at a Cleveland Cavaliers NBA game with the boss — Dan Gilbert — and up late on his private jet, your supervisor might be understanding.

That was Travon Stearns’ experience this summer during the first week of his internship at Quicken Loans, the Detroit-based mortgage giant that Gilbert founded. Only about 5% of those who apply for the coveted summer internship spots are selected.

Stearns, 19, who grew up on Detroit’s east side, recalls being perplexed when Gilbert asked if he was going to the Cavaliers game that particular night. The game wasn’t even in Cleveland, let alone Detroit.

“There’s one in Boston. Do you have plans?” Stearns recalls Gilbert asking.

That night Stearns boarded a private jet alongside the billionaire and his family. They returned home from the game at 3 a.m., and it was back to work for everyone at 9 a.m.

Quicken Loans intern Travon Stearns, 19, a sophomore at the University of Michigan, works on Dan Gilbert's executive team. He is photographed at the One Campus Martius building in downtown Detroit on July 27, 2017.(Photo: Rodney Coleman-Robinson, Special to the Free Press)

For hundreds of young adults like Stearns, a paid summer internship at Quicken Loans or an affiliated Gilbert-owned company is a chance to gain work experience and life experience in a fun, corporate environment.

Companies under Gilbert’s corporate umbrella hired 1,300 interns this summer, working in areas such as mortgage banking, technology, public relations and human resources. These ambitious young people are filling downtown’s sidewalks, restaurants and parks on any given weekday, adding youthful energy to the city’s central business district.

The internship program is also exposing the college students and recent graduates to Detroit, building interest in staying in the city long term.

“Young people were leaving Detroit in the 2000s. They were going to Chicago and New York, the big cities,” said Jeffrey Brown, a Detroit ambassador for Quicken Loans. “Now they’re coming to Detroit because it’s Detroit.”

Julian Weinberg, 21, a recent University of Michigan graduate and an intern in Quicken’s mortgage operations, said he once planned to move to Toronto after college. That is where his brother works in business.

“But since starting here, I feel like I want to be in Detroit,” said Weinberg, who grew up in Fenton. “It’s surreal how the city used to be and how it is now. You see the rankings and comments on the state of Detroit, and you think these people definitely have not seen the city.”

The number of intern positions has been growing each year with the addition of new businesses to Gilbert’s family of companies in Detroit. Application season begins each August, and interviews for the summer positions run September through December. Quicken also offers some year-round internships.

Information on how to apply can be found at Quickenloanscareers.com. Recruiters say that every person who submits an application gets a response.

“A lot of businesses say we are crazy for doing that,” said LaNeisha Gunn, who is Quicken's team leader of intern experience. “We believe there’s much more to a person than a résumé.”

Weinberg and other interns said they are doing real work, in some cases collaborating with senior staffers in their office and developing their own ideas and projects.

“I’ve never felt like just an intern here,” Weinberg said, who graduated from U-M with a degree in political science. “I’ve sat at the same table as business intelligence executives working together to develop a recruiting software."

Stearns was a member of a discussion panel in Eastern Market on community development some months back when he first met Gilbert, who was seated in the front row of the audience.

“It came time for questions, and Gilbert took the microphone, introduced himself and asked if I had an internship this summer. That’s where it all started,” Stearns said.

Stearns has since implemented a water bottle refilling program to make his floor eco-friendlier and planned a food bank volunteer event for his team at Quicken. A sophomore at U-M who is also majoring in political science, Stearns said he plans to come back next summer and the summer after that.

The 40-hour work weeks, PowerPoint presentations and endless slushies will come to an end in mid-August for the interns who made Detroit their home this summer.

But Hayya Yousafzai, 26, a human resources intern, plans to continue working for Quicken into the fall. Yousafzai was born in Geneva, Switzerland, and graduated from the University of Kent in England.

“I’ve lived in seven or eight countries, and I’ve never seen anything like Detroit in my life,” she said. “It already feels like home.”

Yousafzai will never forget her first couple days at the Quicken Loans office.

“I was so scared meeting these empowering women and team leaders," she said. "Now, I work among them. I feel like I’ve come such a long way."